Throughout the 1920s, efforts to commercially develop the oil sands focused upon its possible use as a paving surface for roads and sidewalks.

The Scientific and Industrial Research Council of Alberta is founded.

Henry Marshall Tory, the first president of the University of Alberta, was instrumental in founding the Scientific and Industrial Research Council of Alberta, n.d. Source: University of Alberta Archives, 69-152-003

Karl Clark builds his first model hot-water separation plant.

Karl Clark and Sidney Blair built a model oil sands separation plant in the basement of the University of Alberta power plant. Source: University of Alberta Archives, 69-97-457

Sidney Kidder, Sidney Blair, George Hume, and Elmer Adkins (l to r) at the Edmonton portion of the Athabasca Oil Sands Conference at the University of Alberta, 1951Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, PA3152

Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. incorporates.

Montreal-businessman Lloyd Champion incorporates Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (GCOS) in 1953. Champion, shown here ca. 1960s, later sells most of his shares in the company before the GCOS plant opens under Sun Oil Company’s financing and leadership.Source: University of Alberta Archives, #83-160

Early in situ pilot tests begin on the Peace River and Cold Lake area oil sands deposits; underground experiments along the Cold Lake deposit lead to the development of the Cyclical Steam Stimulation (CCS) bitumen recovery method.

A cross-section of the Cold Lake area deposit shows the depth of the oil sands layer that makes the bitumen in this deposit recoverable only through in situ extraction methods. Source: Courtesy of Alberta Innovates

Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. begins production.

Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. plant during its first week of operation, north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, 1967 Source: Courtesy of Suncor

Partnership between industry and the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA) leads to commercialization of in situ recovery methods.

AOSTRA-sponsored technology develops through the late 1970s and early 1980s; the Cyclic Steam Stimulation bitumen recovery process injects steam through one well below the base of the oil sands, resulting in a heat zone that mobilizes the bitumen so that it can be pumped to the surface through a second production well. Source: Courtesy of Alberta Innovates

In Situ Development

In the early 1980s, commercial in situ oil sands projects started to replace the AOSTRA-sponsored in situ extraction and refining pilot plants. Commercial development progressed from the test pilot plants for four main reasons. First, the industry had experienced technical successes with deep oil sands bitumen extraction at AOSTRA pilot projects. Second, relatively small-scale test plants were less of a financial risk and quicker to bring on stream than the earlier surface-mining mega-projects of the 1960s and 1970s. Those projects, Great Canadian Oil Sands and Syncrude, had huge costs associated with their development. Third, Alberta and the federal government had established economic encouragements for in situ research and development through AOSTRA and federal initiatives. Fourth, world oil prices were still high, which meant higher potential profits for petroleum industry companies willing to invest in in situ oil sand production. Together, these four factors led to a dramatic flurry of oil sands activity at Alberta’s in situ plants.

The three-part process of oil sands drilling, recording results, and map-making has helped define all of Alberta’s major oil sands areas, large and small.

As petroleum industry companies have drilled for oil and gas, geologists have used their findings to map and define important underground deposits. The 1961 description of the deposit surrounding Cold Lake in east central Alberta was largely a result of exploration by Imperial Oil. Similarly, when Shell drilled in the Peace River area between 1941 and 1947, the company’s efforts confirmed that bitumen was present in large volumes as a major deposit.

Shell, Imperial Oil and British Petroleum were the first companies to experiment in Alberta’s deeper oil sands. Each began in situ pilots in the 1960s. Encouraged by the creation and support of AOSTRA during the 1970s, other petroleum companies joined these frontrunners in setting up in situ oil sands projects. By the end of the decade in situ facilities dotted Alberta’s major oil sands deposits, with projects at the Cold Lake deposit at various locations, including Wolf Lake, Elk Point and Lindbergh. By 1992, around thirty in situ projects operated in Alberta. Together, they produced nearly 125,000 barrels of bitumen per day, or about 7.5% of Canadian oil production. In 2012, Alberta’s in situ production surpassed its mined oil sands production for the first time.